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Recover data photo video from a dead water damaged android phone

kumaranil13k

Well-Known Member
Jan 10, 2020
102
8
Question
Recover data photo video from a dead water damaged android phone



I have a old android mobile which was kept on table on which glass of water falled and water entered the mobile as its battery was attached (unremovable battery) inside I coudnt remove it I desambled and unpluged the battery wire and kept the open mobile for three days in sun and then connected and swtiched on it vibrates with no display.

I went to service center they without looking to it said to change motherboard and cost of motherboard is more then the new mobile then I went to local guyz they said whole mobiles display screen motherboard batte y will be changed and declared it dead.

I had important data in it. I tried to find motherboard of mobile online or any old same model same company old model second hand mobile I founded a old second hand mobile working but folowing questions

1. Can I recover the data from damaged mobile if yes how

2. If same mobile screen or board is available then can the data internal memory be fixed into another mobile

3. As the mobile is dead and vibrating can we boot into bootloader or through adb commands can recover from pc connecting mobile. If yes how

4. How can we get the data from the damaged mobile any how any trick or experts advices

5. If display screen is changed of damaged mobile then is it possible to recover data

6. if motherboard of the damaged mobiles is changed and as the storage chip on main board then is it possible to recover data
 
Basically, if you change the motherboard, your data is on the old motherboard.

The device will no longer have your info on it- none of it.

If you are being told that it costs more to repair it than it is worth, that basically means that they do not want to do the work.
(That does NOT mean that they are lying to you, however.)

You would need to not only replace the motherboard, but in order to retain your data the memory chip(s) from your old motherboard would need to replace the ones on the new motherboard.
This is exceptionally cost prohibitive, and it would be hard to find someone with the skills and desire to do such a thing.
Not to mention, that the chip(s) may not function after all that anyway.

So, at this point, we hope that you have learned to put any important stuff onto an SD card so to reduce the odds of this happening again.

Back to the subject-
you have taken the device apart and unplugged the battery, correct?

Now when you plug the battery in and reassemble the device, it wants to start up but will not, correct?

Have you tried putting the device on charge overnight before you try to turn it on?
Leave it plugged into the charger as you attenpt to turn it on.

Try this first, before we go into any last ditch measures.
 
Upvote 0
Basically, if you change the motherboard, your data is on the old motherboard.

The device will no longer have your info on it- none of it.

If you are being told that it costs more to repair it than it is worth, that basically means that they do not want to do the work.
(That does NOT mean that they are lying to you, however.)

You would need to not only replace the motherboard, but in order to retain your data the memory chip(s) from your old motherboard would need to replace the ones on the new motherboard.
This is exceptionally cost prohibitive, and it would be hard to find someone with the skills and desire to do such a thing.
Not to mention, that the chip(s) may not function after all that anyway.

So, at this point, we hope that you have learned to put any important stuff onto an SD card so to reduce the odds of this happening again.

Back to the subject-
you have taken the device apart and unplugged the battery, correct?

Now when you plug the battery in and reassemble the device, it wants to start up but will not, correct?

Have you tried putting the device on charge overnight before you try to turn it on?
Leave it plugged into the charger as you attenpt to turn it on.

Try this first, before we go into any last ditch measures.

@puppykickr bro thanks for replying so fast.... Yes that's what I was thinking that old chip on the mainboard will not get data on the new mainboard...

Is there any device or company system device which can put the mobile chip on the device and extract the data back without soldering it back to new board as it may risk the new board to... As there are many profesional data recovery companies may get data from direct chip only

Secondly the mobile set is not switching on ..it's only vibrating on power up but not giving any display on switching on... I didn't power charged as after keeping in sun and opening I dissambled the whole mobile and 1-2 wires of charging connection was broke o
In disamble and reasambling mobile ...and I'd ont know that the local engineers profesionals made it right I will look if those wires are okay I will try to charge whole night may be trick world as its longs 4-5 months mobile is off
 
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So, at this point, we hope that you have learned to put any important stuff onto an SD card so to reduce the odds of this happening again.
I agree, except I'd go further and say if the data are important keep a backup that isn't on the device at all. An SD card can be transferred to another phone, but if you lose the phone you lose the SD as well (and of course SD cards can fail themselves). So the only way your data are safe is if you have another copy that you will still be able to access even if the phone is stolen/falls in a lake/is trampled by an elephant: anything that is only on the phone is always at risk.
 
Upvote 0
@Hadron is completely correct.

This is exactly why I specifically used the word 'reduce' rather than 'prevent'.

There us actually no way to prevent data loss, only to reduce the chances of it.

Each backup reduces these chances more and more.

Unfortunately, in my experience, I have very rarely been successful in backing up anything- each time I try either the backup or the original is destroyed- leaving me once again with only one copy of anything.

In reality, you need to look at it like this-
Yes, loosing data sucks really bad.
How will you live without this data that was lost?

Well, it is quite simple.
You will live just as you had before the data was on the device.

The feelings of data loss will be the only difference, but life will go on.

(Most likely onto another case of lost data, but I degress...)
 
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@puppykickr bro thanks for replying so fast.... Yes that's what I was thinking that old chip on the mainboard will not get data on the new mainboard...

Is there any device or company system device which can put the mobile chip on the device and extract the data back without soldering it back to new board as it may risk the new board to... As there are many profesional data recovery companies may get data from direct chip only

Secondly the mobile set is not switching on ..it's only vibrating on power up but not giving any display on switching on... I didn't power charged as after keeping in sun and opening I dissambled the whole mobile and 1-2 wires of charging connection was broke o
In disamble and reasambling mobile ...and I'd ont know that the local engineers profesionals made it right I will look if those wires are okay I will try to charge whole night may be trick world as its longs 4-5 months mobile is off
Is the vibration something it normally does when powering on? The lack of display might mean that the display is dead and nothing more, in which case if you have another phone of the same model and swap your old motherboard into it it might work, at least long enough to get your data (but if you are that lucky I'd get the data off then put the replacement phone's motherboard back and use that - the risk of a water-damaged board failing in future cannot be discounted). On the other hand if it's that the display connector or driver on the motherboard is dead you are back to needing expensive professional help with no guarantee of success.

If the vibration is not something it would normally do that is likely a sign of further damage (on some phone specific patterns of vibration can indicate particular types of fault).

One thing to consider further: unless it's a really old phone (and I mean 8 years or older) the data on the storage chips are almost certainly encrypted. So the idea of removing those chips and soldering them to a new motherboard is probably a non-starter anyway. If the data on the phone are genuinely crucial and worth the $$$ it would cost then you could see whether you can find a competent data recovery firm - I can't suggest one, and I'm probably on the other side of the Atlantic to you so it's unlikely my suggestion would help if I had one - but again, nobody can promise a result here.
 
Upvote 0
Basically, if you change the motherboard, your data is on the old motherboard.

The device will no longer have your info on it- none of it.

If you are being told that it costs more to repair it than it is worth, that basically means that they do not want to do the work.
(That does NOT mean that they are lying to you, however.)

You would need to not only replace the motherboard, but in order to retain your data the memory chip(s) from your old motherboard would need to replace the ones on the new motherboard.
This is exceptionally cost prohibitive, and it would be hard to find someone with the skills and desire to do such a thing.
Not to mention, that the chip(s) may not function after all that anyway.

So, at this point, we hope that you have learned to put any important stuff onto an SD card so to reduce the odds of this happening again.

Back to the subject-
you have taken the device apart and unplugged the battery, correct?

Now when you plug the battery in and reassemble the device, it wants to start up but will not, correct?

Have you tried putting the device on charge overnight before you try to turn it on?
Leave it plugged into the charger as you attenpt to turn it on.

Try this first, before we go into any last ditch measures.

@puppykickr bro I again unscrewd dissambled the mobile is didn't. Heckled after taking from local engineer now a bad news the battery is swalen and is useless to power charge them

As the mainboard display battery if bought alll new cost is more than mobile cost and heavy I have option to buy another second hand old mobile of same model and try to replace or test my old water damaged mainboard with second hand working mobile phone and test if the data can came out becuase the engineer said display battery and board all have to be replaced ...

My question is if I replace the new second hand same.model.mobiles mainboard with my old damaged mobile and if it works fine and if not then is there chance to shot the display or battery or other parts to (if my water damaged mainboard is damaged) then will it damage the display while testing or will the mobile work
 
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Is the vibration something it normally does when powering on? The lack of display might mean that the display is dead and nothing more, in which case if you have another phone of the same model and swap your old motherboard into it it might work, at least long enough to get your data (but if you are that lucky I'd get the data off then put the replacement phone's motherboard back and use that - the risk of a water-damaged board failing in future cannot be discounted). On the other hand if it's that the display connector or driver on the motherboard is dead you are back to needing expensive professional help with no guarantee of success.

If the vibration is not something it would normally do that is likely a sign of further damage (on some phone specific patterns of vibration can indicate particular types of fault).

One thing to consider further: unless it's a really old phone (and I mean 8 years or older) the data on the storage chips are almost certainly encrypted. So the idea of removing those chips and soldering them to a new motherboard is probably a non-starter anyway. If the data on the phone are genuinely crucial and worth the $$$ it would cost then you could see whether you can find a competent data recovery firm - I can't suggest one, and I'm probably on the other side of the Atlantic to you so it's unlikely my suggestion would help if I had one - but again, nobody can promise a result here.

@Hadron bro yes ur right bro if I swap the mainboard of old water damaged to new mobile if the board is shorted then can it result the display of new second hand moiles display or board to damage to
 
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Even if you can find the skills required to perform such delicate surgery on your phone, the cost to ATTEMPT recovery will be eye-watering.

This is one of those painful learning experiences in the importance of performing regular backups - either copying everything to a folder on a PC and/or syncing important data to a couple of cloud-based storage solutions. I do both, and recommend backing up data at least monthly.

We hope it works out for you: but it is always safe to assume that critical data, kept in only one place, will eventually be lost.
 
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@puppykickr bro thanks for replying so fast.... Yes that's what I was thinking that old chip on the mainboard will not get data on the new mainboard...

Is there any device or company system device which can put the mobile chip on the device and extract the data back without soldering it back to new board as it may risk the new board to... As there are many profesional data recovery companies may get data from direct chip only


FYI it's called chip-off forensic data recovery, and there are companies that specialise in it, DriveSavers is one.
https://drivesaversdatarecovery.com
Very specialised and can be rather expensive. It's what the feds can use to recover evidence data from suspects' phones that have been destroyed.
 
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